Located on a 5-acre horse ranch in Mesa County, Colorado, Hand Up Homes for Youth opened its doors in September, 1999 with a 12-bed TRCCF program designed for sexually abusive youth, ages 12 to 18.  This residential setting provides intensive clinical, day treatment/education, and experiential services for youth and their families.  With our small size and family-style setting, we are able to offer individualized treatment to clients with a wide-variety of needs, including SIED, dual diagnoses, and behavioral management issues.  Our on-site school is staffed to handle the various educational needs of our clients, enabling them to experience success in school, many for the first time.  We have found that many clients who previously struggled in larger placements are able to succeed in our model.

Also lending to our program’s success is our ranch management component, which includes equine-assisted therapy and care and responsibility for our horses, llamas, goats, donkeys, cats and dogs.  Through interaction with the animals and participation in chores, residents are able to develop responsibility, a good work ethic, and care and concern for others.  In equine-assisted therapy sessions, clients learn empathy, appropriate boundaries, healthy relationship building, assertive communication, emotional regulation, and how to use and respond to body language cues.  Led by a clinical team specifically trained in this field, these sessions are offered to all of our clients on a bi-weekly basis.  Many clients who struggle with traditional styles of learning can make astounding breakthroughs by working experientially with animals.